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| President John Dramani Mahama, Northshore Apparel Hub, Savelugu |
President John Dramani Mahama has commissioned the Northshore Apparel Ghana Limited manufacturing hub at Savelugu in the Northern Region, describing the facility as a major demonstration of how Ghana’s 24-Hour Economy initiative can create jobs, expand production and accelerate exports.
The state-of-the-art apparel manufacturing facility, commissioned on Friday, August 28, 2026, is Ghana’s first regenerative, zero-waste apparel manufacturing hub and is expected to strengthen the country’s position in the global textile and garment industry.
The wholly Ghanaian-owned facility is being developed to manufacture a range of garments, including T-shirts, polo shirts, fleece hoodies, children’s wear, sportswear, underwear, leggings and trousers, with a significant portion of its output targeted at international markets.
24-Hour Economy takes shape in Savelugu
President Mahama said the Northshore project represents the kind of investment his administration envisages under the 24-Hour Economy policy, particularly through the introduction of multiple production shifts.
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| Northshore Apparel Hub, Savelugu |
According to the President, operating the factory in several shifts will enable it to remain productive beyond conventional working hours while creating additional employment opportunities for young people.
“This is an example of what our vision – the 24-Hour Economy in each city – is meant to do,” President Mahama said, stressing that Northshore would run several shifts to create more jobs and increase production.
The President also linked the project to the government's broader objective of creating jobs and accelerating exports. He noted that Northshore had already created more than 2,300 direct jobs, with further expansion expected as additional production lines and shifts are introduced.
A major employment opportunity for Northern Ghana
Beyond the factory itself, the project is expected to have a wider socio-economic impact on Savelugu and communities across Northern Ghana.
The facility is deliberately located outside Ghana's traditional industrial centres, providing opportunities for residents who might otherwise have to migrate to Accra, Kumasi and other southern cities in search of employment.
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| Northshore Apparel Hub, Savelugu |
President Mahama said the planned Northshore Industrial Hub could ultimately provide employment for at least 30,000 young people when the wider hub reaches full strength.
The current Northshore factory, meanwhile, is targeting 10,000 jobs as subsequent phases become operational. The Presidency said 80 per cent of available jobs are reserved for women and vulnerable groups, making gender inclusion a central component of the project.
The company has also created opportunities for persons with disabilities. According to the Ghana News Agency, 40 persons with hearing impairment have already been engaged in collaboration with the Savelugu School for the Deaf.
Supporting women and reducing north-south migration
The employment model at Northshore goes beyond simply providing factory jobs.
The facility includes a crèche for nursing mothers, an on-site clinic, a canteen and other worker-support facilities, designed to make it easier for employees to work productively while meeting essential needs at the workplace.
The government believes such opportunities could help address the persistent migration of young women from northern Ghana to southern cities, particularly women who travel south to engage in informal and precarious work.
By bringing formal employment closer to communities, the project is expected to contribute to more balanced regional development while allowing families to remain closer to their homes.
Modern infrastructure and green manufacturing
Northshore Apparel has been designed around a combination of industrial productivity and environmental sustainability.
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| Northshore Apparel Hub, Savelugu |
The facility currently operates on a 40,000-square-metre production facility located on a 50-acre campus, with 50 sewing lines in its present phase. It also includes a 4,000-square-metre cutting and design facility, two 4,000-square-metre warehouses, a 1,500-square-metre dining facility, administration offices and locker rooms.
Its environmental infrastructure includes a 500-kilowatt peak solar power installation, an anaerobic baffled biodigester and a 600,000-litre underground water reservoir supported by mechanised boreholes.
These systems are intended to reduce the factory's environmental footprint and support a lower-carbon model of industrial production.
The company's leadership says the integration of renewable energy, waste management and worker welfare is intended to demonstrate that large-scale manufacturing can be both commercially productive and environmentally responsible.
Three-phase expansion plan
Northshore Apparel is being developed in three phases.
The first phase focuses on garment manufacturing and has already created thousands of jobs.
The second phase is expected to expand the factory's sewing capacity from the current level to 200 production lines, while also introducing a cotton facility and additional solar power generation with battery storage.
The third phase is expected to establish a fabric mill and cotton outgrower scheme in the sub-region, creating a more integrated textile value chain.
The long-term ambition is to move Ghana beyond exporting raw agricultural commodities and towards processing locally produced cotton into finished garments for international markets.
President Mahama has indicated that the government intends to support a broader cotton revival programme across the West African cotton belt, linking agricultural production with ginning, textile manufacturing and garment production.
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| Northshore Apparel Hub, Savelugu |
Government, development finance and private investment
The Northshore project has been supported through a financing partnership involving the Ghana Export-Import Bank (GEXIM), Germany's KfW Development Bank and the Agricultural Development Bank, among other partners.
President Mahama said the project demonstrated the importance of development finance in supporting productive private-sector investments capable of generating employment and foreign exchange.
He also reaffirmed government's commitment to providing an environment that can attract more investors to Northern Ghana, citing the region's availability of land, relative security, labour force and growing infrastructure network.
Boost for Ghana's export ambitions
A major component of the Northshore project is its export orientation.
The facility is expected to manufacture garments for global fashion brands, creating opportunities for Ghana to earn foreign exchange while increasing the share of value added domestically.
President Mahama said the project meets two important objectives of the 24-Hour Economy — job creation and accelerated exports — because it combines large-scale employment with production for international markets.
The government is also seeking to strengthen demand for locally manufactured products by developing procurement policies that give preference to qualified Ghanaian-made goods.
According to the President, a list of licensed Ghanaian products will be developed in collaboration with the Ghana Standards Authority to guide government institutions, schools and hospitals in their procurement decisions.
Government promises infrastructure support
President Mahama also highlighted the importance of infrastructure to sustaining industrial development in Savelugu and the wider Northern Region.
He said government was working to improve road connectivity and expand water supply, including plans to increase the Tamale water supply system by an additional 40 million gallons to serve Tamale, Savelugu and surrounding communities, with expected support from the European Union.
He further announced plans to introduce net metering, allowing industries with solar installations to feed excess electricity into the national grid and receive credits, potentially helping businesses reduce their energy costs.
The President also pointed to improvements expected along the Eastern Corridor, which he said would strengthen the movement of goods between northern production centres and Ghana's southern commercial and port facilities.
A new chapter for Northern industrialisation
For the people of Savelugu, the commissioning represents more than the opening of another factory. It signals an attempt to reposition Northern Ghana as a destination for serious industrial investment rather than merely a source of raw materials and labour.
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| Northshore Apparel Hub, Savelugu |
The Paramount Chief of the Savelugu Traditional Area, Yoo-Naa Abdulai Yakubu Andani, welcomed the investment, saying it had the potential to reduce unemployment and youth migration, particularly among young women.
He also called for continued investment in roads and other infrastructure to make the area even more attractive to investors.
President Mahama described Northshore as the beginning of a broader industrial transformation for the North, arguing that the project had challenged long-standing assumptions that the region lacked the conditions necessary for large-scale manufacturing.
With its combination of job creation, export production, renewable energy, skills development, social inclusion and plans for a local cotton-to-garment value chain, the Northshore Apparel Hub is emerging as one of the most significant industrial projects associated with Ghana's 24-Hour Economy agenda.
Its success could ultimately determine whether Savelugu becomes not only a major centre for garment manufacturing, but also a catalyst for a wider industrial ecosystem capable of keeping more young people in Northern Ghana while connecting locally produced goods to markets around the world.
